The Israeli Air Force finally eliminated Lebanese Druze arch-terrorist Samir Kuntar during a stunning operation in Syria on Sunday.

Kuntar, who became a senior commander of Hezbollah in Lebanon after his release from an Israeli prison in 2008, was designated by the State Department as a Special Designated Global Terrorist in September this year.

Kuntar was one of the most hated terrorists in Israel after he murdered an Israeli father in front of his four-year-old daughter on a beach in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya on April 22, 1979. The terrorist cell that 16-year-old Kuntar headed, infiltrated Israel via sea from Lebanon and killed a police officer, before forcing their way into the home of the Haran family in Nahariya.

After shooting Danny Haran in the back, Kuntar grabbed his daughter Einat and smashed her head against a rock with a rifle butt until she died too. The mother, Smadar Haran, managed to flee the house with her two-year-old daughter Yael but accidentally choked the toddler to death when she tried to keep her from crying in order not to be discovered by the terrorists.

Kuntar was sentenced to life in prison but was released in a deal with Hezbollah in which Israel received the corpses of three IDF soldiers who’s bodies were snatched by Hezbollah when the Shiite terror organization ambushed two Israeli Humvee’s in July 2006. Eight other IDF soldiers were killed during this attack that led to the Second Lebanon War.

Kuntar, who obtained a BA in Political and Social Science from the Open University in Israel, received a hero welcome from Hezbollah after his release and was honored with the highest Syrian medal by President Bashar al-Assad. Later, he was also honored by former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a ceremony for former ‘political prisoners’ in Tehran.

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After returning to Lebanon, Kuntar climbed the ranks of Hezbollah and became a commander in Syria where he was operating under Iranian command. Arab and Israeli media reported this year that he was building Hezbollah’s infrastructure on the Golan Heights. Kuntar repeatedly stated that Israel was a disease that needed to be removed and was reportedly recruiting Druze Syrians to join ‘the resistance’ against Israel on the Golan Heights.

According to reliable Western sources, Kuntar planned a major terror attack against Israel from the Syrian Golan Heights with the help of pro-Assad militias but not Hezbollah. The same sources said that Kuntar became a terror entrepreneur after Hezbollah appointed Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh who was a former terror chief of the Shiite terror organization, to lead the Hezbollah force on the Syrian Golan Heights. Both Imad and Jihad Mughniyeh were liquidated by Israel.

Israel successfully thwarted Hezbollah’s attempts to set up camp on the Golan Heights and launched several airstrikes on Iranian and Hezbollah convoys on the Syrian Golan Heights. Jihad Mugniyeh was killed in one of these strikes.

On Sunday morning, Israeli jets launched several long-range missiles at a building in the Jaramana neighborhood in Damascus where Kuntar was residing with other Hezbollah commanders. Eight other Hezbollah members were killed in the airstrike.

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The IAF acted upon accurate intelligence and reportedly coordinated the action with the Russian central command in Syria.

Hezbollah’s TV station al-Manar reported that two IAF jets infiltrated Syrian airspace and launched the missiles from a long distance, probably from the Qalamoun Mountains near the Lebanese border. Al-Manar also claimed that Sunni rebels in the Jaramana neighborhood had provided Israel with the intelligence on Kuntar’s whereabouts.

Footage of the destroyed building circulated on Arab social media on Sunday and the elimination of Kuntar was celebrated both in Israel and Syria where Sunni rebels posted messages on Facebook, thanking the Jewish State for taking out the hated Hezbollah commander.

Hezbollah later confirmed Kuntar’s death and released a statement that said Kuntar was ‘martyred’ during an attack by ‘Zionist airplanes.’

Later on Sunday, Palestinian groups in South Lebanon launched 4 Katusha rockets at the western Galilee in North Israel. Initially, it was thought that the rocket attacks were a Hezbollah retaliation, but Lebanese media reported that Palestinian groups were responsible for the attacks.

Hezbollah has announced that it will retaliate as well. In anticipation of a possible Hezbollah attack, the IDF has stopped patrolling the fence along the northern border. Residents in north Israel were ordered not to approach the border fence and to prepare their safe-rooms.